Reverse Culture Shock

Most definitions I found referred to reverse culture shock as the emotional and psychological distress suffered by some people when they return home after a prolonged stay in another country, but I think that for the shorter length of time I spent in Spain, reverse culture shock can also just refer to finding things about one's home country strange after experiencing another country's culture. the first thing that I found strange upon returning from Spain was the number of colossal pickup trucks parked in the airport parking lot. After spending a month surrounded by Honda Civics, Mini Coopers, and more Vespa scooters than I've ever seen in my life, it seemed unnecessary that SO MANY people were driving around in these massive trucks. Surely they don't all need the 2,000 pound hauling capacity of a Ford F-150, but hey, it makes them look cool and manly (insert a lot of sarcasm here). A smaller, weirder detail that I noticed about cars was how many bumper stickers we put all over our cars. I don't recall seeing a single bumper sticker in Spain, but in the US we plaster our cars with political messages, religious messages, environmental messages, stick figure characters of every member in our family, what breed of dog we have, who our favorite sports teams are, what college we went to, and the list goes on and on. We pretty much stop short of painting our social security numbers on our cars with the amount of information we offer up to any stranger driving behind us. The last observation I'll make about cars (because this is already feeling like a bad Jerry Seinfeld stand-up routine) is about how much we rely on driving EVERYWHERE. I went from having restaurants, stores, pharmacies, and movie theaters within walking distance from my apartment in Spain to having to drive 15 minutes to get to Target, then another 15 minutes to get to the restaurant where I was meeting my friend for lunch, then another 40 minutes to get to my boyfriend's apartment. Every city in which I've lived or visited in the US, aside from New York City, I have required a car to get me to various destinations in the area. As someone who would like to have a more environmentally friendly life, it's distressing to realize just how much pollution Americans produce having to drive everywhere they go. I think having the ability to walk everywhere is what I will miss the most about living in Spain. Walking places gave me the chance to interact with people on my commute, I was able to really appreciate the beauty of my surroundings, and even if I wasn't talking to the people around me, I felt like I was part of the community just being close to everyone around me. Yesterday when I was driving to my various destinations in Maryland, I felt weirdly lonely and closed-off from the rest of the world. Prior to coming to Spain, I used to love driving, but now it feels isolating and burdensome. I'll also miss how well-dressed everyone was in Spain. Yesterday, everyone I saw including the friend I met for lunch, was wearing workout clothes even if they had no intention of working out that day. I think that people should have the freedom to wear whatever makes them comfortable, but I know for me personally, before I left for Spain, I wore athletic clothes and baseball hats whenever I didn't feel like putting effort into my appearance, which was pretty much all of the time. When I made more of a conscious effort to look nice while I was in Spain, I noticed that I felt better about myself and I had more confidence. So, I definitely think I'll try to keep up the fashion choices now that I'm back in the US. As for what I'm grateful for now that I'm home, it's difficult to say. I definitely missed the food here, but after a month of people in Spain telling me how bad American food is for your body and how we're essentially eating poison, I've become kind of paranoid thinking about what I'm eating, given all of the preservatives and unnecessary chemicals we add to our food. I'm also grateful for having a larger living space than I did in Spain, although now it feels excessive that every member of my family has their own bathroom. I think the events that had the biggest impact on me were the ones where I was made to feel unwelcome or like I was an outsider in Spain. I won't pretend to be a victim here; I went to Spain because I had the resources to go there voluntarily, and once the month was over, I was free to return to my comfortable life in the US. But these encounters with strangers who openly showed discontent with my existence (or flat out told me "You're in Spain. Speak Spanish or get out." when I was talking to my friends) made me reflect on the sociopolitical climate of the US. I've always been aware that immigrants, particularly from Spanish-speaking countries, have a very difficult time in the US because of close-minded bigots that feel entitled to decide who belongs in this country and who doesn't. My interactions in Spain, however, have inspired me to look for organizations in which I can get involved to try to educate people on the challenges immigrants face as well as offer resources to those immigrating to the US to help them feel more welcome.